On July 4th we all remember our Founding Fathers and the Colonies’ declaration that they would be a nation free from rule in which they had no representation, and we give thanks for the freedoms that we enjoy. But do we remember why we celebrate with fireworks?
On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on England after repeated disputes over free trade and the rights of sailors. In August of 1814, American forces were overrun at Bladensburg, and the British captured and burned Washington D.C.
With the nation’s capital fallen, the British set their sights on the city of Baltimore. In September, 5,000 British soldiers landed nearby, and began their march toward the city. They were held at bay by the Americans, who had hastily constructed earthworks as a line of defense. The British navy was called in to support the soldiers in their attack. However, as the ships entered Baltimore harbor, they met resistance from Fort McHenry and its 1,000 defenders.
On September 13, 1814, the most powerful navy in the world sent a force of bomb and rocket ships to dislodge the defenders from their fortifications. Anchoring out of range of the fort’s cannon, the British ships launched a withering attack. For twenty-five straight hours bombs and rockets rained down on Fort McHenry.
All that day and through the night, from a British ship in the harbor, a young American lawyer named Francis Scott Key witnessed the devastating bombardment of the fort. On the morning of September 14th, the guns of the ships went silent. When the smoke and fog had cleared, he saw the huge American flag still flying proudly over the fort. Unable to rout the fort’s defenders, the British military was forced to withdraw, leaving the city of Baltimore in America’s hands. Francis Scott Key was so inspired by the sight of the American flag that he wrote a poem called “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” which was later put to music and renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It later became our National Anthem.
We recently stood on the earthworks at Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor. As we looked out over the bay we imagined what it must have been like for the poor soldiers defending the fort as the British flotilla fired off rockets and lobbed exploding shells over their heads. It must have been terrifying!
Today, as I think about the Church throughout the ages, that image of Fort McHenry comes to mind. Like Fort McHenry, the Church has undergone heavy bombardment from its enemies – from Satan and from the world.
The first major persecution of the Christian church followed the great fire that destroyed much of the city of Rome in 64 AD. Emperor Nero blamed the fire on the Christians, and launched a campaign of terror that led to many of them being tortured and killed, some in unimaginably gruesome ways, being crucified or burned alive.
Other persecutions under various Roman emperors followed, until finally, the Edict of Milan (313 AD) permitted all religions to be practiced in the empire, including Christianity.
However, although the Roman emperors were no longer sanctioning persecution, the Church established by Jesus Christ has continued to be under constant bombardment from Satan and his worldly kingdom. Millions of Christians worldwide have been killed under communist regimes, where religion has been seen as an enemy of the state.
The Church has also come under fire from the modern secular state as “Science” has purportedly replaced the “mythology of religion” in explaining the origins of the universe (i.e. evolution), and where the teachings of the Bible have become “intolerant views,” and therefore something to be jettisoned, even from our theology (i.e. marriage between a man and a woman, two genders – male and female, sexual purity, etc.).
Satan has been attacking the Church since its beginning, since he tempted our first parents to rebel against their Creator. And yet, as the flag still flew over Fort McHenry that next morning, so God’s Church has remained and will continue to exist and to grow until the final day when Christ returns in glory. The Holy Spirit continues to create faith in the hearts of people through the hearing of God’s Word, which will never pass away. The Church is growing
as the Holy Spirit grants faith in the hearts of believers in our own country, and in many countries worldwide, most notably in Africa and Asia. The Church will continue to exist into eternity.
Built on the Rock
The Church shall stand
Even when steeples
Are falling.
Crumbled have spires
In ever land;
Bells still are chiming
And calling,
Calling the young
And old to rest,
But above all
The souls distressed,
Longing for rest
Everlasting.
Built on the Rock
the Church Shall Stand
LSB #645
This July 4th, if you have the opportunity to watch a fireworks display commemorating the Battle of Baltimore and the attack on Fort McHenry, remember with great thanksgiving that the Lord preserves and enlarges His Church on earth, even in the face of Satan’s attacks; that His Word endures forever, even as the world tries to supplant it with its own philosophy.
O little flock, fear not the foe
Who madly seeks your overthrow;
Dread not his rage and pow'r.
And though your courage
sometimes faints,
His seeming triumph o'er God's saints
Lasts but a little hour.
As true as God's own Word is true,
Not earth nor hell's satanic crew
Against us shall prevail.
Their might? A joke, a mere facade!
God is with us and we with God—
Our vict'ry cannot fail.
O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe
LSB 666
Not all freedom is good, though that may seem odd to us. Freedom from the rule and reign of tyrants, freedom from persecution, yes. But freedom from God’s rule and reign, no. Thanks be to God that He has sent His Son to free us from the guilt of our sin and the kingdom of Satan, and has brought us back into God’s kingdom, where we find that we are truly free.
God’s peace be with you,
Pastor